Luring the eastern neighbours

North East News Agency

NORTH-EAST showcased its potentials to the business community and the people of Thailand in the first ever North East India Investment Opportunities Week held recently in Bangkok. The Thais may take a while to make up their mind about investing in the North-east, India made all the right noises to attract the Thai entrepreneurs. Region’s agriculture, food-processing, infrastructure sectors and the highly-qualified stock of manpower were showcased to woo them. Thailand Minister for Commerce, Krirk-Krai Jirapa proposing to observe 2008 as Indo-Thai Cooperation Year. With Union Minister of State for Commerce and Industry, Ashwini Kumar hinting at putting in place, the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between the two next year.

Minister DoNER, Mani Shanker Aiyar sought to lure Thai investors by pointing towards the Region’s infrastructure, where the Government of India proposed to pump in $ 15 billion in the road sector alone in the next five years. Thailand has a surplus capacity of road, airport, power plant construction companies could train their focus on these sectors because these are priority sectors for us also,” he said, inviting Thai investors.

The Ministers were speaking at the inaugural session of the of the Investment Opportunities Week at Queen Sirikit National Convention Centre was attended by Chief Ministers of five States of Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Dorjee Khandu, D.D.Lapang, N. Rio, O. Ibobi Singh and Zoramthanga, respectively, besides, officials, entrepreneurs from India and Thailand.

Jirapaeth inaugurated an exhibition of products of the North Eastern Region put by entrepreneurs hailing from the Region. A colourful display of traditional handloom and handicrafts products were put up.

Over the next four days, the North Eastern States showcased the Region sector-wise and hold one-to-one dialogue with their Thai investors, exploring the possibility of striking some deals. At the end of the Week, the Indian entrepreneurs are also being taken on a tour of the Thai companies.

The most encouraging words, however, came from Jirapaet who requested the Thai investors and the country’s bureaucrats to take note of the opportunities available in the Region, as well as the growing importance of India as an economic power. Though the current trade between India was satisfactory at $ 2.30 billion, he said it was nowhere comparable with the trade between Thailand and China, which stands at $ 25 billion. “Can we do better? He asked. He further added that the two countries have over 20 agreement are not short of mechanism to increase the trade. “We need the private sector to create awareness and confidence so that we can tap on our strength,” he said, acknowledging that the North-east and Thailand shared similar cultural and food habits.

The Thai Commerce Minister, who incidentally also happened to be first Foreign Minister to visit the North-East on a bilateral tour, said he was optimistic about the current exercise. Whatever we are doing we are not doing for nothing,” he said.

Earlier, addressing a press conference he hinted that the trilateral highway project among India-Myanmar-Thailand might be delayed because of the turmoil in the neighbouring country. “ We need to have strong connections with North-East.

Addressing the meeting Aiyar said that NER needed investments in power sector including hydro and thermal. There are opportunities in agriculture, agro processing, and food processing and hospitality sectors. Union Minister for Commerce highlighted the new industrial policy and assured that India stands committed to pump in millions of dollars in to the North-east because it has been realized that the Region cannot be allowed to become laggard on the economy. The geographical disadvantage needs to be addressed, he said.

In 1228, when King Sukafa leading a band of followers settled in Assam, little was it then realised that nine hundred years later, his community Tai-Ahom would one-day become a mascot to promote State’s tourism in distant Thailand. A nostalgic package, centering around Tai-Ahom community has been mooted to lure Thai tourist to the Region.

In Thailand, the selling point for North-East is the Ahom community, the long lost cousin of the Thais, said director of Board of Trade of Thailand, Satish Sehgal, the man who is coordinating the North East India Trade and Investment Opportunities Week. The Thais know about the Ahom community, but most of them are not aware that they are Indians, he added.

The Thais would love to visit their long lost cousins and if an attractive package was worked out it would work. As if on cue, State Industries Minister, Pradyut Bordoloi has been harping on this Thai-Ahom connection to attract the attention of the Thai investors.

“Time has come to refresh this relationship. Our Chief Minister, Tarun Gogoi is from the same stock,” he told Thai entrepreneurs.

Though ideas to woo Thai investments in business and trade were abundant, lack of regular air connection between North-east and Bangkok stuck out like a sore thumb. One weekly flight is not enough. At least one daily flight from a major city of the North-east to Bangkok is essential, said Sehgal.

Once these flights start operating daily it would create a market and it could be dovetailed with attractive packages to bring Thai tourists. Assam’s tea gardens and its wildlife sanctuaries could be major attraction, the director opined.

A critical factor that has emerged at the meet is the need to put in place infrastructure facilities.

The day two of the Business summit was a mixed bag, as the North Eastern States barring perhaps Nagaland failed to put make an attractive presentation to sell their States as an attractive tourist destination. The session was on Opportunities in Tourism and Hospitality and presided over by Secretary DoNER, Sushma Singh. But the outcome left even the DoNER officials dismayed, prompting Minister DoNER, Mani Shankar Aiyer to stress that there should be a strong demonstration on part of the Indian delegation. “We like to see a result-oriented approach,” said the Minister.

A feedback session has been called tomorrow afternoon to gauge the outcome of two days of business. The Minister who is going to preside over the session asked all officials and business delegation to attend the meeting. A session today was also devoted on one-to-one meeting between Indian and Thai businessmen.

A Thai businessman who took part in one such market told this newspaper that Thai and North entrepreneurs could make a joint effort to distribute handicrafts products through Thai marketing networks. The shirts, shawls and handbags manufactured in North-east are not expensive, he said.

The session on Infrastructure, Agro and food, Handloom and handicraft was attended by deputy Prime Minister of Thailand, Piyabutr and presided over by Aiyer and attended by Chief Ministers of Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Meghalaya, Manipur and Mizoram.

Although tangible results were yet to come out of the week-long meet, negotiations were on to finalise at least three MoUs. One of the MoUs is between NEDFi and India-Thailand Business Forum. The aim is to cooperate in identification of potential investors and assisting them in preparation of feasibility reports, said Sahgal.

At least three Thai construction companies including Ital-Thai, Ch Karnchang and Nawarat Patunakarn have shown interest in working in the North Eastern Region, added the director. The focus, Sahgal said was working out a cheap, attractive package to bring the Thai is to North-east, a region the country is not aware about. The suggestion that is being toyed around is to organise a FAM tour of tour operators, journalists and travel writers to visit the North-East.

The need of the hour is to educate the Thais about the North Eastern Region. So far all they know about India is poverty, lack of infrastructure and food, said the director. Eco tourism, the mountains in North-East and its Buddhist heritage could be major attraction for the Thai citizens. About 40,000 Thai tourists visit India every year and majority of them hit the Buddhist circuit. Thailand has a population of one million monks and are keen on visiting the Buddhist sites in India, said Sahgal. About the prospects of Thai investments in North-east, Sahgal said the Indian expatriate community could be tapped. There are lot of Indian hoteliers in Thailand, who would be interested in investing in hotels back home. “Some can be motivated to invest in the NER,” he said.

Food processing was identified as another area where Thai expertise on food processing could be utilised. The Thai have promised to bring in the technology and know – how on food processing sector.

Meanwhile, heavy entourage of officials have turned the event into a bureaucratic affair. Delegation of officials from various Ministries, PSUs, State Governments far outnumber business delegations. Arunchal Pradesh for instance has brought 30-member delegation of which only two were businessmen and rest all officials including MLAs belonging to the ruling Congress Party. Meghalaya Chief Minister DD Lapang invited Thai investors to invest in infrastructure and hospitality sector in the State. Lapang has invited investors to come visit the State before making investments. “It is the right time to forge a partnership between Thailand and Meghalaya for common interest,’’ Lapang said at the inaugural function of the ‘North East Indian Investment Opportunities Week’ at Queen Sirikit National Convention Centre in Bangkok.

The first-ever North East India Investment Opportunities Week concluded on a promising note with at least eight MoUs being sealed, even as the Thais called for better accessibility to the Region. Agriculture and road construction sectors have emerged as the key sectors, hot favourite with the Thais, if the number of MoUs and handshaking are any indication. The Thai entrepreneurs were interested in horticulture products, agriculture produce, tea, bamboo and tourism.

Government of Assam is facilitating negotiations between three State-based construction companies and Thai equipment suppliers.

An official of Assam Government told the Feedback Session that they are expecting at least 10-12 MoUs between local entrepreneurs and Thai companies. The most significant of the deal yet could be between State’s Inland Water Department and Thailand’s department of Marines.

Assam Government was looking for an engineering solution to dredging and channel marking of Brahmaputra River. A delegation of Thai department is likely to visit Assam to evaluate the project. The official said they would like to involve the private sector in developing the jetties.

Day Three of the Summit was encouraging to the DoNER Ministty and Indian Chamber of Commerce as reports tickled in of entrepreneurs and public sectors undertaking making hopeful beginnings. The summit was attended by 280 entrepreneurs from India and 150 Thai businessmen.

DoNER Minister Mani Shanker Aiyar presided over a feedback session attended by senior Thai officials of Department of Commerce and Indian officials, Chief Minister of Meghalaya, DD Lapang, Secretary Sushma Singh, besides the entrepreneurs. The Minister summed up the three-day by asserting that a beginning has been made. If the volume of trade between North-east and Thailand increases then DoNER Ministry might explore the possibility of deputing an official in the Indian embassy in Bangkok.

The power sector, however, had few takers as the Thais were not keen on getting into multi-million projects and were looking for only smaller hydropower projects. The National Hydro Power Corporation offer of 51 percent equity in power projects in Arunachal Pradesh had no takers. They were looking for Rs 14,000-15,000 crore investments, promising a guaranteed equity return of14 percent.

The Thai Old Construction Equipment Suppliers have emerged as the most sought after group, as entrepreneurs mostly from Assam were looking for used equipment in road construction. National Highway Authority of India is pumping in Rs 50,000 crore for construction of roads.

Six contractors including five from Assam and one from Nagaland were negotiating with Thai counterpart for joint ventures for sell and use of construction equipments.

An entrepreneur from Assam is likely to sign a deal with a Thai company to supply fly ash and tiles to Thailand, while another group was in negotiation with a Thai hotel chain to set up a hotel in Sivasagar in joint venture.

The financial institution NEDFI and India Thai Business Forum (ITBF) signed an MoU to facilitate promotion of business. The two agreed to set up information cell in each other’s country, to identify potential entrepreneurs and coordinate with respective governments. The two sides also agreed to meet once in every six months.

The Sikkim Government was in ‘serious negotiation with a Thai company to set up casinos and five star hotels in the State.

The Government of Meghalaya wa negotiating with Thailand’s department of Horticulture for technical know-how, capacity building, training, and packaging. Medicinal plants, roses and strawberry were identified as potential export items.

A businessman from Manipur signed a deal for exporting sticky rice and another was in negotiation for supply of bamboo incense sticks and furniture manufacturing.

However, the most luring offer came from a top official of Thailand’s Department of Commerce, who said that his country could be very interested to import vegetables and fruits from North-east instead of China, once the Free Trade Agreement comes in force, scheduled late this year.

The deputy Director general said that Thailand imports lot of agriculture produce from China, but they have discovered that these items are very cheap in North-east. Once the FTA is completed the North-East would have advantage over China.

The country’s Director General Trade, Chutima offered the most significant suggestion stating that the biggest hurdle was very little was known about the Region in Thailand. A lot of business companies including some construction giants came to us and said the Summit was an eye opener for them. “The most common question was how do I get there and is there any means to ascertain and see what the Region has to offer,” the official said quoting the Thai investors.

The Thai construction companies wants to do business in North-east because they see a lot of potential. But who do we go to seeking information, she asked, suggesting that Ministry DoNER should set up a focal point.

In what is likely to be the first case of foreign direct investment (FDI) in the State, a major business concern of Thailand has shown keen interest in investing $ 10 million in Assam in the aquaculture and fishery sector. This apart, 25 companies of the State have entered into MoUs with business houses of Thailand for facilitating joint ventures in diverse areas such as infrastructure development, construction, food processing, handloom and handicrafts, tourism, etc. The State Government, too, had an agreement with the Thai Contractors’ Association — a conglomerate of 120 Thai companies — for enhancing bilateral cooperation in trade and commerce. Revealing this, Assam Commerce and Industries Minister Pradyut Bardoloi said that the Thai company, CP Aquaculture Pvt Ltd, was keen to invest to the tune of $ 10 million in sea food (fish) processing, fishery, etc., in the North-East, mostly in Assam. “The Thai company is also in favour of joint ventures and we can benefit by way of transfer of technology and expertise. It is also likely to start fish production in the State and also construct cold storages,” he said.

Bardoloi said that the Thai company’s eagerness to invest in Assam stemmed from the fact that Assam had a huge demand for fish and fish products.

Meanwhile, following the investment summit in Thailand last week, 25 companies of the State have signed MoUs with Thai business concerns. “As per the MoUs, there will be joint ventures in infrastructure, construction, tourism, food processing, handloom and handicrafts, etc., and both sides stand to benefit from this,” he said.

Some of the companies that have entered into agreements are RAG Group (with Inmode Trading Co of Thailand), ARTFED (with Thai Silk Association), Williamson Magor (with Personal management Co and Inmode Trading Co), Manmohan Bricks and Tiles, Prihvi Diary, Purvanchal Banijya Bikash, Orient Processing Pvt Ltd, Welcome India Pvt Ltd, Super Infra-Tech Pvt Ltd, NK Constructions, etc.

According to Bardoloi, the developments augured well for the State’s trade and industry, as under the agreement, the TCA would initiate steps for transfer of world-class construction technology and management practices to the Assam-based companies. “Moreover, they will also take steps for development and upgradation of skills for local manpower. The State Government will play the role of a facilitator in the process,” he said.

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